Thursday, October 1, 2009
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 01 Oct 2009
Jail Time We Can Believe In: Not Death Panels, Prison Panels --The Democratic insurance company-big pharma giveaway aka health-care reform: If you don't fork over your thousands to Barack Opharma's corpora-terrorist trolls, you go to prison. Now that's jail time we can believe in. --Lori Price
Rhetorical Tax Evasion --The IRS says it will fine or jail you for not paying Obama's mandate levy. (The Wall Street Journal) 29 Sep 2009 President Obama's effort to deny that his mandate to buy insurance is a tax has taken another thumping, this time from fellow Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee. Chairman Max Baucus's bill includes the so-called individual mandate, along with what he calls a $1,900 "excise tax" if you don't buy health insurance. (It had been as much as $3,800 but Democrats reduced the amount last week to minimize the political sticker shock.) And, lo, it turns out that if you don't pay that tax, the IRS could punish you with a $25,000 fine or up to a year in jail, or both. Under questioning last week, Tom Barthold, the chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, admitted that the individual mandate would become a part of the Internal Revenue Code and that failing to comply "could be criminal, yes, if it were considered an attempt to defraud." Mr. Barthold noted in a follow-up letter that the willful failure to file would be a simple misdemeanor, punishable by the $25,000 fine or jail time under Section 7203.
Italian lawyers seek jail for CIA agents 01 Oct 2009 Public prosecutors in Italy have urged a court in Milan to jail 26 Americans for the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in a 2003 CIA operation. The Italian lawyers are seeking sentences of between 10 and 13 years for the US agents. They also want 13 years for the former head of Italy’s secret service, Nicolo Pollari. The trial is the most high profile case in Europe to challenge the extra-judicial transfers also known as 'renditions.'
Prosecutor: Italy kidnapping too grave to cover up 30 Sep 2009 The kidnapping of a terror suspect is too grave a crime to be covered up just to protect government secrets, a prosecutor declared Wednesday in the trial of 26 Americans and seven Italians charged in the abduction of an Egyptian cleric. Prosecutor Armando Spataro gave his closing arguments in a trial that is the first in any country to scrutinize the CIA's extraordinary renditions kidnappings. Under that program, the U.S. spy agency transferred terrorism suspects to third countries for interrogation [and torture].
Lawmakers ban transfer of Guantanamo detainees to US 01 Oct 2009 The US House of Representatives have voted to ban the transfer of detainees prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the US, and the release of abuse torture photos in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure, sponsored by Republican Representative Harold Rogers as part of the 2010 Homeland Security Department budget, passed by a vote of 258 to 163, attracting support from nearly all the chamber's Republicans, as well as 88 DemocRATs.
Judge orders release of Cheney interview with FBI --Both Bush and Obama administrations said they wanted to keep interview confidential 01 Oct 2009 A federal judge ruled Thursday that the FBI must publicly reveal much of its notes from an interview with former Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative. Cheney agreed to be interviewed by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in June 2004 during the investigation of the leak of Valerie Plame's identity after her husband publicly criticized the Bush regime.
Odierno: U.S. May Never Declare Victory in Iraq [Well, ExxonMobil, BP, Blackwater/Xe, Fluor, Triple Canopy and KBR can declare victory --and that's what matter$.] 01 Oct 2009 The top American commander in Iraq said Thursday it is unlikely the U.S. can declare victory by the time forces leave at the end of 2011. "I'm not sure we will ever see anyone declare victory in Iraq, because first off, I'm not sure we'll know for 10 years or five years," Army Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
Iran agrees to open up uranium enrichment plant to inspection --Provisional deal offers hope of defusing crisis 01 Oct 2009 Iran agreed in principle today to export much of its stock of enriched uranium for processing and to open its newly-revealed enrichment plant to UN inspections within a fortnight. The agreements, struck at negotiations in Geneva with six major powers, represented the most significant progress in talks with Tehran in over three years, and offered hope that the nuclear crisis could be defused, at least temporarily.
Iran to Send Enriched Uranium to Russia 02 Oct 2009 Iran agreed on Thursday in talks with the United States and other major powers to open its newly revealed uranium enrichment plant near Qum to international inspection in the next two weeks and to send most of its openly declared enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into fuel for a small reactor that produces medical isotopes, senior American and other Western officials said. Iran’s agreement in principle to export most of its enriched uranium for processing -- if it happens -- would represent a major accomplishment for the West, reducing Iran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon quickly and buying more time for negotiations to bear fruit.
U.S. lawmakers vote to punish Iran's fuel suppliers [to help US corpora-terrorists] 01 Oct 2009 As Washington and Tehran began talks over Iran's nuclear program, U.S. lawmakers approved legislation to bar foreign companies exporting gasoline to Iran from also delivering crude oil to America's emergency petroleum stockpile. Thursday's action by the U.S. House of Representatives marks the first time lawmakers imposed economic sanctions on Iran since Tehran disclosed it was building another uranium enrichment plant and U.S. and Iranian officials met in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the country's nuclear program.
NYMEX-Crude ends up on Iran worry, firm gasoline 01 Oct 2009 U.S. crude futures closed higher in a late run-up on Thursday on worries about talks between Iran and the West over its nuclear program and as follow-through buying spurred by improved demand lifted gasoline futures.
Poll: 56% of American Jews think U.S. should strike Iran 01 Oct 2009 One day ahead of talks in Geneva between Iran and six major powers - the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany - on Tehran's controversial nuclear program, a national poll finds that 56 percent of American Jews support a U.S. military strike against Iran. The annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, commissioned by the American Jewish Committee, revealed a 14 percent rise in the number of U.S. Jews in support of such a military strike. 36 percent of those polled - self-described adult Jews ere against such an attack.
Israel trying to dodge overseas prosecution 01 Oct 2009 Stung by a damning U.N. report alleging war crimes in Gaza, Israel is taking extraordinary steps to fend off potential international prosecution of its political and military leaders, hiring high-powered attorneys, lobbying Western governments and launching a public relations blitz. Israel has dismissed the U.N. investigation into its winter offensive in the Gaza strip as biased, but its latest moves show it is clearly concerned.
Netanyahu nixes call for Israeli inquiry into Gaza war 01 Oct 2009 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed the idea of setting up an inquiry committee into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip as a means of dealing with the Goldstone Commission's report. That report, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during their three-week conflict in Gaza in January and recommends that both be referred to the International Criminal Court for prosecution unless they carry out in-house investigations that the UN deems adequate within six months.
White House Eyeing Narrower War Effort --Obama to continue assassination program 02 Oct 2009 Senior White House officials have begun to make the case for a policy shift in Afghanistan that would send few, if any, new combat troops to the country and instead focus on faster military training of Afghan forces, continued assassinations of 'al-Qaeda' leaders and support for the government of neighboring Pakistan [aka the Obusha money pit] in its fight against the Taliban. In a three-hour meeting Wednesday at the White House, senior advisers challenged some of the key assumptions in Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's blunt assessment of the nearly eight-year-old war, which President Obama has said is being fought to destroy al-Qaeda and its allies in Afghanistan and the ungoverned border areas of Pakistan.
NORAD: Shooting down stray planes always option 01 Oct 2009 The U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command said Thursday that shooting down a small plane that left its flight plan and later crashed in Indiana, killing the pilot, was always an option. NORAD spokesman, Michael Kucharek, wouldn't say whether the option was seriously considered Wednesday before the single-engine propeller M20M Mooney crashed about 12 miles northeast of Muncie, Ind., but said leaders in NORAD and other agencies were consulted. Kucharek didn't know whether President Barack Obama, the ultimate authority for such a decision, was alerted to the situation.
'Violation of quarantine order tantamount to manslaughter' --Canadians willing to give up rights to combat flu 24 Sep 2009 Canadians are bullish on giving government officials permission to restrict personal freedoms in a flu pandemic, with half of those surveyed agreeing that violation of a quarantine order would be tantamount to manslaughter. The survey, conducted for the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, is based on a random sample of 500 Canadians surveyed by phone, and nearly 100 more via a series of town hall meetings.
Army's first swine flu death is soldier in SC 01 Oct 2009 A 23-year-old soldier from Florida who was in basic training is the Army's first death from complications of swine flu, officials said Thursday. The death at Fort Jackson, the Army's largest training camp and just outside Columbia, may be the first such loss among the nation's 1.4 million men and women in uniform.
Nurses file lawsuit over mandatory flu vaccine 01 Oct 2009 A union representing 16,000 registered nurses in Washington state has filed a federal lawsuit against MultiCare Health System for implementing a mandatory flu vaccination policy. The lawsuit, filed by the Washington State Nurses Association, seeks an injunction to stop the policy from being implemented at both Tacoma General and Good Samaritan hospitals.
Swine flu shot protests may be the next Tea Party 30 Sep 2009 If Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente is right another volley may have been fired in what he is calling the "Second American Revolution." Here's part of an e-mail trend alert he sent to clients, "While there are many wild cards that could light the fuse, The Trends Research Institute forecasts that if the threat of government-forced Swine Flu vaccinations is realized, it will be the fourth shot (of the second American Revolution). Tens of millions will fight for their right to remain free and unvaccinated." According to a UPI report, Hospital Corp. of America, with clinics and hospitals in 20 states including Tennessee and Virginia, is requiring its 120,000 employees to be vaccinated... Lori Price of Citizens for Legitimate Government, a Connecticut-based group that opposes government [corporate] expansion. "It's all part of an encroachment on our liberties," Price told The Wall Street Journal The Washington Post in a story published Saturday.
NY health workers vaccination 29 Sep 2009 The trend toward mandatory H1N1 vaccinations for U.S. healthcare workers is meeting resistance from unions and anti-government groups, officials said. Hundreds of thousands of nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are being ordered to become vaccinated as the second wave of the H1N1 pandemic spreads this fall. The trend is fueling rumors that the H1N1 vaccine may become mandatory for everyone, said Lori Price of Citizens for Legitimate Government, a Connecticut-based group that opposes government expansion.
D.C. Schools to Start Swine Flu Shots in Oct. 02 Oct 2009 Students at some D.C. public schools will be able to get vaccinated against swine flu this month, and inoculations for students are expected to be available citywide in November, according to a plan health officials made public this week. But Peter Branch, the head of Georgetown Day School, said he was frustrated that private schools would not have access to the vaccine until after many other schools had received it. [Mr. Branch doesn't 'get it.' The pharma-terrorists/govt is ensuring the public school children are the guinea pigs for the squalene-laden, mercury-filled, Polysorbate 80-laced vaccine. --LRP]
U.K. to Start Swine Flu Vaccination This Month, Government Says 01 Oct 2009 The U.K. will begin offering [] swine flu vaccine to health workers and people most at risk of contracting the illness later this month, government health officials said. "If everything goes well and according to plan it will be in the second half of October," England’s Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson told reporters today in London.
US officials worry about homegrown terrorism plots --Recent arrests highlight risk of attacks in U.S. 30 Sep 2009 Top Obama administration officials on Wednesday said recent arrests in alleged bombing plots highlight the challenges they face combating "self-radicalized, homegrown extremists" as well as foreigners in the United States determined to carry out attacks. The officials told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that 'al Qaeda' still poses a threat -- although a reduced one -- and that they must also focus on affiliated groups and homegrown militants.
Homeland Security to hire up to 1K cyber experts 01 Oct 2009 The Obama administration has given a green light to the Homeland Security Department to be more competitive and choosey as it hires up to 1,000 new cyber experts over the next three years, the first major personnel move to fulfill its vow to bolster security of the nation's computer networks. The announcement follows a wave of cyber attacks on federal agencies, including a July assault that knocked government Web sites off the Internet and earlier intrusions into the country's electrical grid.
Senator's Aid to Mistress's Husband Raises Ethics Flags 02 Oct 2009 Early last year, Senator John Ensign (R) contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada -- a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants -- seeking work for a close friend and top Washington aide, Douglas Hampton. "He’s a competent guy, and he’s looking to come back to Nevada. Do you know of anything?" one patron recalled Mr. Ensign asking. The job pitch left out one salient fact: the senator was having an affair with Mr. Hampton’s wife, Cynthia, a member of his campaign staff.
Pelosi: GOP has double standard in health care rhetoric debate 01 Oct 2009 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped congressional Republicans on Thursday for holding Democrats to a higher standard in the rhetoric employed in the often acidic health care debate. "Apparently, Republicans are holding Democrats to a higher level than they hold their own members," she said on Capitol Hill. "If anybody's going to apologize, everybody should apologize."
Senate Committee Passes Quasi-Public Option Amendment 01 Oct 2009 The Senate Finance Committee narrowly passed an amendment Thursday from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that moves the conservative panel as close as it will likely get to a public health insurance option. The amendment creates a "federally funded, non-Medicaid, state plan which combines the innovation and quality of private sector competition with the purchasing power of the states," according to an overview. It would be available to people with incomes above Medicaid eligibility but below 200 percent of the federal poverty level -- a very narrow window.
Previous lead stories: Gore Vidal: 'We'll have a dictatorship soon in the US' --Gore Vidal claims America is 'rotting away'-- and don’t expect Barack Obama to save it 30 Sep 2009 Vidal originally became pro-Obama because he grew up in "a black city" (meaning Washington), as well as being impressed by Obama’s intelligence. "But he believes the generals... Obama believes the Republican Party is a party when in fact it's a mindset, like Hitler Youth, based on hatred -- religious hatred, racial hatred. When you foreigners hear the word 'conservative' you think of kindly old men hunting foxes. They're not, they're fascists." ...Another notable Obama mis-step has been on healthcare reform. "He f***ed it up. I don’t know how because the country wanted it. We’ll never see it happen." Vidal now believes, as he did originally, Clinton would be the better president. "The Republicans will win the next election," Vidal believes; though for him there is little difference between the parties. "Remember the coup d’etat of 2000 when the Supreme Court fixed the selection, not election, of the stupidest man in the country, Mr Bush."
NORAD to Conduct Flight Exercise Over DC Area --Exercise to include air force F-16s, Coast Guard helicopters 30 Sep 2009 The North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Continental U.S. NORAD Region plans a training flight exercise over Washington. The exercise, called Falcon Virgo 10-01, will take place late Wednesday and early Thursday. The exercise is comprised of a series of training flights held in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, National Capital Region Command Center, Joint Air Defense Operations Center, Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR), Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and CONR's Eastern Air Defense Sector.
Critics say pandemic emergency bill tramples privacy rights 28 Sep 2009 Mandatory vaccinations, home searches without a warrant and forced quarantine for those who resist. Critics of a pandemic preparedness bill pending in the Legislature say it would allow all those things and sets the stage for a medical police state where any response to an epidemic of flu or other illness has the potential to steamroll civil liberties. The bill’s supporters and its sponsor, Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, have found themselves in recent weeks defending against attacks from critics. Senate Bill No. 2028 – An Act Relative to Pandemic and Disaster Preparation and Response in the Commonwealth – passed the Senate (MA) by a unanimous vote on April 30 with almost no public notice.
UPI | U.S. billionaires had a bad year
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The 400 richest U.S. citizens lost a collective $300 billion in the past year, the highly anticipated annual list of richest Americans reveals.
In the past 12 months, Warren Buffett, No. 2 on the list, lost $10 billion of his personal wealth, Forbes.com reported Thursday. While he was the biggest loser of the year, Buffet is still worth $40 billion, the magazine said.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, maintained his spot on the top of the list for the 16th consecutive year.
Gates, valued at $50 billion, lost $7 billion in the past year.
The Top 10 also includes Oracle founder Lawrence Ellison (worth $27 billion), Wal-Mat heirs Christy Walton ($21.5 billion), Jim Walton ($19.6 billion), Alice Walton $19.3 billion) and S. Robson Walton ($19 billion), media mogul Michel Bloomberg ($17.5 billion), and energy investors David and Charles Koch ($16 billion each).
6.3 magnitude earthquake hits TONGA - 242 km (150 miles) NNE (18°) from Neiafu, Tonga - Friday, October 02, 2009 at 02:07:39 PM at epicenter
Update time = Fri Oct 2 1:26:51 UTC 2009
| MAG | UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s | LAT deg | LON deg | DEPTH km | Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAP | 6.3 | 2009/10/02 01:07:40 | -16.579 | -173.274 | 10.0 | TONGA |
TheAge.com | Surfer rides his way to survival in Samoa
October 2, 2009
Chris Nel surfed to survival.
A NEW Zealand man forced to ride out the Samoan tsunami on his surfboard thought he would be "smashed into the jungle" by the surging water.
Hospitality student Chris Nel, from Wellington, was on holiday on the south coast of Savai'i, Western Samoa, when the 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck on Wednesday morning.
"I went out early morning for a surf, then I felt the tremor — you get them all the time in New Zealand, so I didn't really think too much of it—then I went out in the water and caught a few waves."
Mr Nel had been in the water with an Australian man and four other New Zealanders when the first signs of the coming tsunami appeared.
"All of a sudden the water went really weird, it kind of glassed off and got really lumpy, then we started moving really quick, getting sucked out to sea," he said. "It was pretty scary looking back and seeing the reef completely dried up; it looked like a volcanic riverbed, it was just gone."
Mr Nel witnessed a "big-as spurt of water hit the shore".
"I was thinking, 'This is it, we're going to get washed away and smashed into the jungle'. We didn't know what was going on, we thought 'Why is no one coming out to help us?' but it turned out everyone had already been evacuated by that point."
The surfers tried in vain to reach the shore as "trees and all sorts of stuff" started floating past them. They lay on the surfboards as wave surges swept ashore, riding them out and trying not to get smashed.
"After about 35 or 45 minutes of floating around, we managed to time it between a surge to get to land through the reef channel." When he made it to shore, he saw that the surf camp he had been staying at had been destroyed.
"A lot of my stuff got washed out to sea and I found one of my surfboards in the jungle," Mr Nel said.
Initially he had stayed at the beach to help salvage a wrecked boat but left when he heard another tsunami warning.
"Everyone just got out of there. I managed to grab my passport and boardies."
The surfers headed to a village and waited for about five hours until the threat of a second surge had passed.
Days earlier, Mr Nel had been surfing off the south coast of Upolu, an area that was devastated by the tsunami.
Mr Nel left Samoa yesterday, flying back to Wellington wearing the pair of jeans he had managed to find in the jungle.
"We were really, really lucky," Mr Nel said.
"If anyone had caught a wave closer to shore there would have definitely been people who would have died or been severely injured."
BlackListedNews.com | Headlines October 1, 2009
| To prevent inflation from taking off, the Federal Reserve will need to start boosting interest rates quickly and aggressively once the economy is back on firmer footing, Fed officials warned Tuesday. | |
| In an unprecedented disclosure, the FDIC has highlighted that it expects the DIF reserve ratio to be negative as of September 30 | |
| China’s air force deployed a “magic-like” range of chemicals and technology to clear Beijing’s smoggy air for a grand parade marking the 60th anniversary of Communist China, state media said on Thursday. | |
| The Transportation Security Administration plans to install 150 security machines at airport checkpoints that enable screeners to see under passengers' clothes. | |
| THE Pentagon's efforts to develop a beam weapon that can deter an adversary by causing a burning sensation on their skin has taken a step forward with the development of a small, potentially hand-held, version. The weapon, which is claimed to cause no permanent harm, could also end up being used by police to control civilians. | |
ProPublica.org Journalism in Public Interest | Headlines - October 1, 2009
Wall Street Wizardry Reworks Mortgages
Leslie Scism and Randall Smith, Wall Street Journal ($)
Topic: Business
Tags: Mortgages, Wall Street
Clearer Rules Urged for Women Asylum Seekers
Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post
Topic: Justice
Tags: Asylum, Gender
Probe Targets Archives’ Handling of Data on 70 Million Vets
Ryan Singel, Wired
Topic: National Security, Government & Politics, Military
Tags: Databases, Veterans
FBI Probing Possible Civil Rights Violations by Burbank Police
Andrew Blankstein, LA Times
Topic: Justice
Tags: California, Civil Rights, Police
Federal Contractor Databases Are a Mess
Nancy Scola, Personal Democracy Forum
Topic: Government & Politics
Tags: Contractors, Databases
Felons Housed in Nursing Homes Tied to 2 Executives
David Jackson and Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune
Topic: Health & Science, Justice
Tags: Felons, Nursing Homes
Compliance Uneven on Mass. Health Care Law
Kay Lazar, Boston Globe
Topic: Health & Science
Tags: Health Insurance, Massachusetts
Chemical Found in Air Outside 15 Schools
Blake Morrison and Brad Heath, USA Today
Topic: Environment, Education, Energy & Environment
Tags: Air Pollution, Environmental Protection Agency, Schools
Illegal Cockpit Chatter Cited in Six Crashes
Alan Levin, USA Today
Topic: Investigations Elsewhere
Tags: Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board
How Reliable is the Science of Autopsies?
Yamil Berard, Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Topic: Health & Science, Justice
Tags: Florida, Investigation
Lobbyists, Health Care Industry Donate in ‘One-Two Punch’
Bill Allison, Sunlight Foundation
Topic: Health & Science, Lobbying, Government & Politics
Tags: Health Care Reform, Lobbying, Political Contributions
Cave's Headlines | October 1, 2009
The Market Oracle | Deflation, What You Can do to Survive the Economic Depression
Guardian.co.uk | 'No credible evidence' of Iranian nuclear weapons, says UN inspector
InfoWars | Exposed: American Police Force (AFP) in Hardin, Montana - A Blackwater Front Group
American Police Force, the paramilitary unit patrolling a small town in Montana, has been exposed as being a front group for the disgraced private military contractor Blackwater, now called “Xe”.
AntiWar.com | Another War in the Works
Does anyone remember all the lies that they were told by then-president Bush and the "mainstream media" about the grave threat to America from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? These lies were repeated endlessly in the print and TV media despite the reports from the weapons inspectors, who had been sent to Iraq, that no such weapons existed.
The weapons inspectors did an honest job in Iraq and told the truth, but the mainstream media did not emphasize their findings. Instead, the media served as a Ministry of Propaganda, beating the war drums for the U.S. government.
Now the whole process is repeating itself. This time the target is Iran.
As there is no real case against Iran, Obama took a script from Bush’s playbook and fabricated one.
First the facts: As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran’s nuclear facilities are open to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which carefully monitors Iran’s nuclear energy program to make certain that no material is diverted to nuclear weapons.
The IAEA has monitored Iran’s nuclear energy program and has announced repeatedly that it has found no diversion of nuclear material to a weapons program. All 16 U.S. intelligence agencies have affirmed and reaffirmed that Iran abandoned interest in nuclear weapons years ago.
In keeping with the safeguards agreement that the IAEA be informed before an enrichment facility comes online, Iran informed the IAEA on Sept. 21 that it had a new nuclear facility under construction. By informing the IAEA, Iran fulfilled its obligations under the safeguards agreement. The IAEA will inspect the facility and monitor the nuclear material produced to make sure it is not diverted to a weapons program.
Despite these unequivocal facts, Obama announced on Sept. 25 that Iran has been caught with a "secret nuclear facility" with which to produce a bomb that would threaten the world.
The Obama regime’s claim that Iran is not in compliance with the safeguards agreement is disinformation. Between the end of 2004 and early 2007, Iran voluntarily complied with an additional protocol (Code 3.1) that was never ratified and never became a legal part of the safeguards agreement. The additional protocol would have required Iran to notify the IAEA prior to beginning construction of a new facility, whereas the safeguards agreement in force requires notification prior to completion of a new facility. Iran ceased its voluntary compliance with the unratified additional protocol in March 2007, most likely because of the American and Israeli misrepresentations of Iran’s existing facilities and military threats against them.
By accusing Iran of having a secret "nuclear weapons program" and demanding that Iran "come clean" about the nonexistent program, adding that he does not rule out a military attack on Iran, Obama mimics the discredited Bush regime’s use of nonexistent Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" to set up Iraq for invasion.
The U.S. media, even the "liberal" National Public Radio, quickly fell in with the Obama lie machine. Steven Thomma of the McClatchy Newspapers declared the non-operational facility under construction, which Iran reported to the IAEA, to be "a secret nuclear facility."
Thomma, reported incorrectly that the world didn’t learn of Iran’s "secret" facility, the one that Iran reported to the IAEA the previous Monday, until Obama announced it in a joint appearance in Pittsburgh the following Friday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Obviously, Thomma has no command over the facts, a routine inadequacy of "mainstream media" reporters. The new facility was revealed when Iran voluntarily reported the facility to the IAEA on Sept. 21.
Ali Akbar Dareini, an Associated Press writer, reported, incorrectly, over AP: "The presence of a second uranium-enrichment site that could potentially produce material for a nuclear weapon has provided one of the strongest indications yet that Iran has something to hide."
Dareini went on to write that "the existence of the secret site was first revealed by Western intelligence officials and diplomats on Friday." Dareini is mistaken. We learned of the facility when the IAEA announced that Iran had reported the facility the previous Monday in keeping with the safeguards agreement.
Dareini’s untruthful report of "a secret underground uranium enrichment facility whose existence has been hidden from international inspectors for years" helped to heighten the orchestrated alarm.
There you have it. The president of the United States and his European puppets are doing what they do best – lying through their teeth. The U.S. "mainstream media" repeats the lies as if they were facts. The U.S. "media" is again making itself an accomplice to wars based on fabrications. Apparently, the media’s main interest is to please the U.S. government and hopefully obtain a taxpayer bailout of its failing print operations.
Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a rare man of principle who has not sold his integrity to the U.S. and Israeli governments, refuted in his report (Sept. 7, 2009) the baseless "accusations that information has been withheld from the Board of Governors about Iran’s nuclear program. I am dismayed by the allegations of some Member states, which have been fed to the media, that information has been withheld from the Board. These allegations are politically motivated and totally baseless. Such attempts to influence the work of the Secretariat and undermine its independence and objectivity are in violation of Article VII.F. of the IAEA Statute and should cease forthwith."
As there is no legal basis for action against Iran, the Obama regime is creating another hoax, like the nonexistent "Iraqi weapons of mass destruction." The hoax is that a facility, reported to the IAEA by Iran, is a secret facility for making nuclear weapons.
Just as the factual reports from the weapons inspectors in Iraq were ignored by the Bush regime, the factual reports from the IAEA are ignored by the Obama regime. Like the Bush regime, the Middle East policy of the Obama regime is based in lies and deception.
Who is the worse enemy of the American people, Iran or the government in Washington and the media whores who serve it?
Read more by Paul Craig Roberts
- US Hypocrisy Astonishes the World – September 6th, 2009
- Americans: Serfs Ruled by Oligarchs – August 19th, 2009
- Obama to Muslims: Put Up and Shut Up – June 4th, 2009
- Succumbing to the Dark Side – May 28th, 2009
- Who Will Stand Up to America and Israel? – May 27th, 2009
EarthObservatory.NASA.gov | Typhoon Parma - Continues its westward path across the Pacific Ocean on October 1, 2009
As the death toll from Tropical Storm Ketsana continued to climb, residents of the Philippines braced for Typhoon Parma, which continued its westward path across the Pacific Ocean on October 1, 2009. The same day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image. Coastlines of the Philippines appear in black, and storm clouds hide the satellite’s view of most of the land areas. Clouds actually fill most of this image, with the eye of the storm appearing in the right half of the picture and long arms extending westward over land.
According to Reuters, early in the day on October 1, the Philippines’ chief weather forecaster characterized Parma as a category 4 typhoon with wind speeds of 95 knots (175 kilometers per hour), and predicted that the storm could become a category 5 typhoon by October 3. According to a report from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center several hours later (15:00 UTC, 11:00 p.m. Manila time), the storm had encountered dry air associated with an upper-level anticyclone and had weakened somewhat. At the time of that bulletin, however, Typhoon Parma remained a powerful storm, with wind speeds of 120 knots (220 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 145 knots (270 kilometers per hour).
The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS’ full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.
References
- Joint Typhoon Warning Center. (2009, October 1). Typhoon 19W (Parma) Warning. U.S. Naval Marine Forecast Center. Accessed October 1, 2009.
- Reuters. (2009, October 1). Philippines raises alert for new super typhoon. Accessed October 1, 2009.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.
- Instrument:
- Terra - MODIS
GoldNews.com | Smoking Guns & Monetary Power
Moreover, "The United States would be mistaken to take for granted the Dollar's place as the world's predominant reserve currency," as World Bank president Robert Zoellick told an audience at Johns Hopkins University in Washington this ...
DailyMail.co.uk | Open season on parakeets in England - Exotic birds can be shot without a licence under new regulations
The ring-necked parakeet - a wild parrot, with vibrant emerald feathers and crimson beak - will shortly become fair game for residents possessing a rifle or shotgun, cage trap or net under new rules from wildlife watchdog Natural England.
From January 1 the bird once dubbed 'the grey squirrel of the skies' can be killed or have its nest disturbed and eggs destroyed to help protect crops and such native species as the woodpecker.
DID YOU KNOW?
No one knows where the UK's wild parrots come from. One theory is that a pair escaped from a container in Heathrow airport.
- Since they started breeding in the wild in 1969, the ring necked parakeet has become London's 15th most common bird.
- They nest so early in the year - often in January - that they use up the good holes and nest boxes, driving away native species such as woodpeckers.
- In Esher, Surrey, one roost has an estimated 7,000 noisy birds.
- Also known as rose necked parakeets, they were kept as pets by the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
- The birds originate from the foothills of the Himalayas - so can cope with the chilly British weather.
NaturalNews.com | Today's Featured Stories - October 1, 2009
| Jury says chemotherapy drug death was "manslaughter" (NaturalNews) A British woman, Anna McKenna, was being treated with chemotherapy in 2006. Due to a mistake, she was given quadruple the dose of chemotherapy chemicals -- an error that continued for four treatment sessions and ultimately... |
| Type 2 Diabetes Breakthrough: The Mediterranean Diet (NaturalNews) Natural health advocates have been shown to be right yet again. In one of the longest randomized trials of its kind, European scientists compared the typical low-fat diet for type 2 diabetes management prescribed by mainstream doctors to... |
| Warning: Epilepsy Drug Harms Babies' IQ (NaturalNews) Pregnant women who take a widely prescribed epilepsy drug give birth to children with lower average IQs, according to a study conducted by researchers from Emory University School of Medicine and published in the New England Journal of... |
| Una de gato, the Peruvian herb for cancer (NaturalNews) If you're looking to prevent cancer, you need to know about una de gato. More news stories on una de gato are appearing around the world as word spreads about its natural healing potential. You'll learn a wealth of information about it in... |
| It is Not Obesity: Inflammation may be Killing You There is a new game in town that is destroying the health of America and it is causing, simultaneously, rampant morbid obesity. That new game is a chemical cocktail attack on the bodies of Americans which results in extreme inflammation.... |
| Simple Solutions Help Common Digestive Complaints Poor digestion is a problem most of us will probably face at some point in our lives. It is disrupting in a number of ways, whether through heartburn, gas, constipation, or a number of other uncomfortable conditions. We see products like... |
| The Chi Machine Offers Amazing Benefits Eastern medicine is based on the idea that all illness is a result of blockages in the body`s Chi. Science is now beginning to open to the idea that Chi (pronounced "chee" whether spelled chi, qi, or ki) is a form of electricity that runs... |
| Mind-Body Connection, Part III: How Our Beliefs Affect the Food We Eat (Opinion) There's an old adage: We are what we eat. But, what determines what we eat? All of us are given one body for life, and how we treat our body will affect everything we do until the day we die. Some people regard their body as a temple and... |
BBC | Hundreds of Dinosaur eggs are found in India
Geologists in southern India say they have found hundreds of dinosaur egg clusters which could be about 65 million years old.It was a chance find discovered when a team of scientists were locating a place to excavate an ancient riverbed in the state of Tamil Nadu.
As they dug deeper they saw layers of what looked like fossilised eggs.
The photos and samples were then sent to various universities who confirmed that they were dinosaur eggs.
Each egg is the size of a football - about 13 to 23cm in diameter, lying buried in sandy nests. FULL STORY
BillingsGazette.com | FOREIGN Mercenaries with history of law breaking move in to run empty private prison camp in Hardin, Montana
RUFFIN PREVOST Of The Gazette Staff | Wednesday, September 30, 2009 6:25 pmMichael Hilton of American Police Force arrived in Hardin with promises of Mercedes police cars and expertise in operating prisons. He delivered the cars last week, but may have learned about prisons following a 1993 conviction for grand theft.
Public records from police and state and federal courts in California show that Michael Anthony Hilton, using that name and more than a dozen aliases over several years, is cited in multiple criminal, civil and bankruptcy cases, and was sentenced in 1993 to two years in state prison in California.
Hilton pleaded guilty in March 1993 to 14 felonies, including 10 counts of grand theft, one count of attempted grand theft and three counts of diversion of construction funds, according to Orange County court records. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but it is unclear how much time he served.
Court records in that case list his real name as Michael Hilton, but they also include the aliases Midrag Ilia Dokovitch, Midrag Ilia Dokovich and Michael Miodrag.
Hilton, who speaks heavily accented English, has told reporters that he is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Montenegro, a country bordering Serbia, and once part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia.
SteveQuayle.com | Hot Headlines - October 1, 2009
Asia Trembles as 'Ring of Fire' Sees New Deadly Quakes
Indonesia Says Thousands Likely Dead in Massive Quake
Major Quakes Can Weaken Seismic Faults Far Away, Scientists Say
Fault Whisperer
Philippines Mobilizes Armed Forces for Second Storm in a Week
Brussels Welcomes US Move Toward Global Governance of Internet
APF Head Hilton has History of Legal Trouble
Military Convoy to Converge on County Today
Military Operation in Local Town
Legislation Still Under the Radar Would Devastate U.S. Gun Ownership
Ban Handguns? Supreme Court Taking a New Look
FDIC Discloses Deposit Insurance Fund Is Now Negative
I.M.F. Calls for Overhaul of Financial System
The Coffin Shaped Recovery Tick! Tick! Tick!
Documents Indicate Ken Lewis Utilized the MAC to Shake Down Bernanke and Paulson
Federal Eye - Report Questions Security at National Parks
Outrage: Tying It All Together – video
Spiritually Transmitted Diseases
Augmented Google Earth Gets Real-Time People, Cars, Clouds
Indonesia Says Thousands Likely Dead in Massive Quake
Major Quakes Can Weaken Seismic Faults Far Away, Scientists Say
Fault Whisperer
Philippines Mobilizes Armed Forces for Second Storm in a Week
Brussels Welcomes US Move Toward Global Governance of Internet
APF Head Hilton has History of Legal Trouble
Military Convoy to Converge on County Today
Military Operation in Local Town
Legislation Still Under the Radar Would Devastate U.S. Gun Ownership
Ban Handguns? Supreme Court Taking a New Look
FDIC Discloses Deposit Insurance Fund Is Now Negative
I.M.F. Calls for Overhaul of Financial System
The Coffin Shaped Recovery Tick! Tick! Tick!
Documents Indicate Ken Lewis Utilized the MAC to Shake Down Bernanke and Paulson
Federal Eye - Report Questions Security at National Parks
Outrage: Tying It All Together – video
Spiritually Transmitted Diseases
Augmented Google Earth Gets Real-Time People, Cars, Clouds
Sydney Morning Herald | Danger zone just a stone's throw away
DANGER is all around us. While Australia sits pretty in the middle of a large continental plate, our slow drift to the north-east causes chaos, encircling us in a massive ring of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
''We've got the most active areas in the world to our north and east,'' said Gary Gibson, a seismologist at Environmental Systems and Services in Melbourne. ''We are in the centre of the seismological world.''
Out near Samoa, our plate meets its match - the mighty Pacific plate that is thrusting westward under ours at a rate of 86 millimetres a year.
North near Sumatra, the opposite is happening. It is being dragged under the Sunda plate with about 65 millimetres a year disappearing almost straight down to be recycled deep in the earth.
While these movements at plate boundaries sound minuscule, their impact is colossal, as shown by the two unrelated events this week, on one day: the magnitude 8.1 earthquake and local tsunami near Samoa, and the magnitude 7.6 earthquake near Panang.
Earthquakes and tsunami have long racked our region, and despite new technologies to detect them, some ancient wisdom needs to be revived to survive, say scientists. FULL STORY
Bloomberg.com | Philippines Mobilizes Armed Forces for Second Storm in a Week
Oct. 1 -- The Philippines mobilized its armed forces as Supertyphoon Parma headed for the country, threatening more heavy rains a week after Tropical Storm Ketsana devastated parts of Manila in Luzon and left 277 people dead....
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — World's tallest tower moves closer to completion
(AP) – October 1, 2009 - 56 minutes agoDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The developer building the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai says cladding work on the shiny silver-colored tower's outside is complete.
Completion of the aluminum and glass facade marks a key milestone for Emaar Properties, which is racing to meet a self-imposed deadline to have the Burj Dubai complete by the end of the year.
By way of comparison, the builder says the amount of aluminum used on the building's face weighs as much as five double-decker Airbus A380 jetliners, while the more than 1 million square feet (103,000 square meters) of glass panels could cover 14 soccer fields.
The Burj Dubai, Arabic for "Dubai Tower," stands more than 2,600 feet (800 meters) tall, though Emaar has yet to confirm is final height.
Related:
Spiegel.de | After a rash of deals, BBVA is now the second-biggest European bank in Asia after HSBC, and it's just getting started.
The bank is also expanding rapidly in the US. On Aug. 20, BBVA won a US government auction for Texas-based Guaranty Financial Group, and the Spanish giant, led by Francisco González, has made it clear that BBVA is interested in taking over other shaky American banks. BBVA's profit in 2008 was $8 billion. The company doesn't provide any guidance or estimate for 2009's bottom line, but the consensus estimate of financial analysts is $7.1 billion, an 11 percent drop. FULL STORY
NYTimes | At Least 529 Die as 7.6 magnitude Quake Hits Indonesia Island
Residents walked through an area damaged by the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, on Thursday. Dita Alangkara/Associated PressEvery building over three stories in Padang suffered damage from the initial quake, and the city’s three main hospitals all collapsed. At the biggest hopsital, Djamil, beds were pulled from the wreckage to serve the injured.
Padang, a port city of 900,000, is on the west-central coast of Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island. The western coast is stippled with dozens of volcanoes, and Padang also sits alongside the Sunda Trench, part of the notorious Ring of Fire, the volatile network of volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin. The ring — and Sumatra in particular — is a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Elsewhere in the basin, on Tuesday, an underwater earthquake measuring 8.0 created a tsunami that sent massive walls of water crashing into the islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.
Reports from government officials, the police, aid workers and news agencies showed Thursday that at least 154 people had been killed by the tsunami — 115 on Samoa, 30 on American Samoa and 9 on Tonga. FULL STORY
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